The Arabic word for fasting is ‘sawm’. The literal meaning of sawm is to abstain. During the month of fasting, a person refrains from many things. Thus Ramadan is a month of leading a controlled life. Keeping oneself in discipline is very important. Success is for one who knows the art of discipline. One who lacks discipline cannot achieve big success. The month of Ramadan is meant as training in discipline. Discipline is important both in worldly and religious aspects of life.

Study of the Quran and Hadith shows that in Islam there is a well-defined description of ideology in the sense of belief, worship and moral values, but there is no structured model for a system to be established in society. People have fought throughout history so that they could implement or impose their system on society. But Islam made a contribution in this regard, as it taught that one should follow one’s ideology in one’s own individual life and as far as the socio-political system is concerned one should accept the status quo. This formula will open up all opportunities that exist outside the political system. Less than 1% aspects of life are part of politics, while more than 99% scopes exist outside the political domain. Islam teaches that one should be idealist in one’s individual life, and as far as the system in place in society is concerned, one should be accept whatever exists. By following this principle, one can make progress in whichever non-political field one chooses for oneself.

In islam, questioning is greatly encouraged. We have an example from the early history of Islam. When Umar Faruq was caliph, he once delivered a speech. Then he asked if anyone in the audience had a question. Umar was a very tall person, so his shirt was also very long. A person from the audience demanded an explanation as to how Umar was able to make such a long shirt: from where he got so much cloth? Umar said that his son Abdullah would answer the question. Abdullah explained that he gave some cloth to his father as he could not make a shirt from the cloth available to him. This shows that there was a lot of freedom for people to even question the caliph, leader of a great empire. There was an open environment for questioning at that time. This incident also points out to the equality that existed between people. Moreover, the caliph did not censure the person for such a question, indicating that there was no concept of superiority or inferiority. People at that time lived in an environment of openness, which is basic for intellectual development. MK Gandhi has said: ‘Abu Bakr and Umar were masters of a vast empire, but they lived as paupers.’
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

“A very important aspect of Islam is that in every situation it teaches you to live in hope. The first verse of the Quran is ‘Al-hamd’, that is ‘O God, all thanks to You.’ God wants people to live in hope, which means that the world in which He has placed them is also full of hope. The Prophet also said, ‘Actions are based on intention.’ If you make sincere intention for something, then that is equivalent to the action to be performed. Professor Siddiqi always used to say that if God gave him good health, he would devote himself to dawah work. Thus God has written him down as a dayee, as far as his pure intention was concerned. His death has not brought an end to his intention. As long as there would be need for dawah in this world, his intention would continue. This is a great reward: although a person has died, he will still receive reward as he had made intention for dawah. Thus whenever dawah will be performed by others, he too will receive reward.”
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

“Presenting one’s gratitude to God is tawhid, while presenting it instead to a creature of God is shirk. During ancient times people attributed divinity to the sun, moon and other natural phenomena such as rain. This was because at that time they couldn’t explain these occurrences and held them in mysterious awe. Today after scientific advances, people rationally understand these natural phenomena. But in the present times the Creator has been separated from creation. People draw benefits from discoveries in nature but do not offer thanks to their Creator. Today people are living in a contradiction: they utilize the blessings of God but do not acknowledge God’s gifts to them. This contradiction in their lives is the source for the tension and stress we see in people today. “

Shirk means to give a position to someone which is deserving only of God. For example, God gives rise to grain, but if we believe that someone else is providing us with this food, then that is an example of shirk. Creation is made by God. If it is held that creation or nature has been made by an entity other than God, then that would be regarded as shirk. Thus shirk is attributing to others the traits that only God possesses. Shirk involves making someone or something an equal of God and developing such affection for it as is due to God.

Society is an opportunity for us to learn from one another and, through joint effort, proceed on the path of development. Developing complaint for others is an inevitable outcome of social life. This jeopardizes the very purpose of society, which is to learn from one another. The Hadith advises us not to harbour complaint in our heart for the sake of learning from others.